John pulls no punches in his coverage of the Giants and his
support of Barry Bonds. A must read for all San Francisco fans.
~ David Pinto ~Baseball Musings

John is my blogfather. Internet years are like dog years and it is a testament to John's passion and love for the game that he's still rocking and rolling after all these years.
~ Alex Belth ~Sports Illustrated

It's hard to do anything for five years, let alone do it well.... Analyst, gadfly, passionate fan and talented writer.
~ Will Carroll ~Under the Knife

Are you prepared to see Tony Torcato playing right-field in 2005? According to this MLB report, Torcato, 25 years old, has continued to tear up the PCL, and will probably be given a chance to make the roster this spring. The Giants’ former first round pick in 1998 is batting .315 in winter ball. Perhaps that’s the reason Sabean chose to let Mohr go away.

In my book, that’s a poor reason; the odds that Torcato could match Mohr’s production would seem to be lo-o-o-ng.

Last year was his best, (.274/.394/.437 .831 OPS) as Alou deftly platooned him with Michael Tucker. Sadly, he’s gone, and as I have complained about this team long and hard, I though I’d look at what we have, instead of what we don’t.

Looking at the Giants’ depth chart, I like the way the bullpen looks. Brower, Eyre, and most interesting is the team’s apparent intentiom to use Foppert in long relief. After all the BS I’ve been sending Brian Sabean’s way, should this team land a real outfielder, this team will look pretty damn good. I still wish we’d gotten younger, but all in all, you can’t deny that we have upgraded ourselves in three areas that we were fairly deficient in last season; the bullpen, and defense up the middle, (SS and C). Of course, this doesn’t take into account our need for youth and speed, but, let’s not be greedy. The biggest caveat is that this is a one or two year team. And before we talk about what’s left this off-season, I believe I have finally seen the logic in Sabean’s madness.

This team is set to explode at the same time Bonds will retire. That’s it. That’s why the Giants have signed a bunch of thirty-somethings instead of getting younger and faster. The Giants have positioned themselves to be big players in the free agent market in the 2006 off-season. Remember, you read it here first.

As far as who’s left, these are the only guys with any pop. Anybody stand out as a possible Giant? Ordonez is coming off an injury year, Beltran wants the keys to the mansion, and Burnitz is a zero away from Coors. As much as I’d love to see the 30-year old Ordonez recover from his injury as a Giant, there’s almost no chance Sabean would do that. Ordonez isn’t old enough. So, of course, Sabean is gonna sign Alou. The guy’s old, he has ties to the manager, (duh), and he’s old. Did I mention he’s a veteran? Well, he is an excellent hitter, and we would have some backup, (Torcato and Tucker). As far as I can see, that’s all that’s left to do.

Update: Well, not that I’m Nostradamus, but I called this signing probably within an hour or so of it going down. And I have no inside information or contacts or anything. Well, enough of tooting my own horn.

All commentary is the opinion of John J Perricone unless otherwise noted.
None of the opinions expressed should be construed as being endorsed by theSan Francisco Giants,
Major League Baseball, or any other organization mentioned herein.